


An Adventure in Fresh Starts

by gelowo93



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Motorcycles, Smoking, badboy!Arthur, geeky!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 11:22:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1897182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gelowo93/pseuds/gelowo93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur used to be close friends, but as they grew up they grew apart. When Arthur turns up on Merlin's doorstep in the middle of the night, Merlin doesn't know what to think. But then Arthur persuades him to come on a middle of the night adventure with him, leading to revelations about what led to them drifting apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Adventure in Fresh Starts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catlechat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catlechat/gifts).



> Written for Franzthemeerkat's prompt: can you do badboy!Arthur, geeky!Merlin? 
> 
> This has not been beta'd, and any mistakes are entirely my own.

_im outside ur house_

_Arthur – what? It’s past 3am_

_yeh but we haven’t spoken in ages_

_We can go get coffee or something sometime DURING THE DAY. I’m trying to finish an essay_

_so you’re awake anyway, ive got a new motorbike do you want to go for a ride?_

_Maybe tomorrow, I need to finish this and then sleep_

Merlin put his phone on his desk and turned back to the pages of notes strewn across his desk, searching for the information on James I that he’d spotted five minutes ago. He placed his elbow on the desk and rested his forehead in his hand, sighing. He had the whole weekend to finish the essay, but he’d wanted to get it done tonight so he could go to the manga meet up with Will tomorrow – or, well, today. It wasn’t even nearly close to finished though, and Merlin could tell that it was going to be a rushed job on Sunday night, trying not to let his mum notice that he was still doing work.

The glare from his laptop screen was hurting Merlin’s eyes. He closed them, telling himself that he was just resting his eyes, but a few moments later the night time noises outside - of leaves rustling in the wind and owls hooting - began lulling him to sleep.

Until the loud _ding-dong_ of the doorbell startled him awake. Merlin jumped up, banging his legs on the edge of his desk, and for one disorientated moment, he thought it was Sunday, and his mum had come home and he’d slept through the entire weekend. Rubbing his thighs, Merlin barely had a second to realise that was still Saturday morning before his phone flashed and started vibrating.

He glanced at the caller ID before answering, and froze.

_Arthur_.

Merlin tapped the screen to answer the call.

“Was that you, ringing the doorbell? What were you thinking?” Merlin hissed.

“Morning, Emrys.” Arthur’s familiar voice on the other end of the line was far too chirpy for Merlin’s liking. It was deeper and rougher than the last time Merlin had heard it, probably from smoking too many cigarettes, but still held the same posh undertones that he remembered. Merlin didn’t think Arthur would ever be able to get rid of them, no matter how hard he tried. They would slip out on the occasional word, and everyone listening to Arthur would relax without realising it, because of the sense of trust and authority that they held.

“No, it’s the middle of the night.”

“Come on, let’s go on an adventure.”

“ _It’s four in the morning._ ”

“Exactly, the best time for an adventure.”

“Won’t any of your other biker friends go with you?”

There was a second of hesitation before Arthur replied.

“I wanted to go with you –” Another pause “- but if you don’t want to that’s fine. I’ll go. I just thought - I haven’t seen you since school - but if you’re too busy staying up all night writing essays, and reading books with your clever friends, then I’ll…”

There was an edge to Arthur’s voice that was obvious even for Merlin to pick up on in his drowsy state. He wasn’t sure what it was about Arthur’s tone, but it made Merlin panic, wondering what had happened for Arthur to come to him. They had been good friends, once, when they were children. But as they had grown up they had grown apart, until the only time they spoke was if they caught one another walking to or from school, or if they caught the other’s eye in school there would be a nod of acknowledgement before both carried on with their days. Merlin had accepted that their friendship had run its course.

But now…

“Hey, no, give me a few minutes, okay? I’ll be there.”

The grin on Arthur’s face was obvious from his voice. “Great, I’ll wait at the end of the road.”

Arthur hung up before Merlin could say anything else. Merlin pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the screen until it went black. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with Arthur, but dammit, he’d agreed to it now, and Merlin wasn’t about to change his mind when there was obviously something wrong.

It took Merlin ten minutes to find appropriate clothes to wear – Arthur had mentioned his motorbike earlier, and that, along with Arthur’s insistence of going on an adventure, was enough to convince Merlin that he would be joining Arthur on his motorbike. He settled on an old but thankfully not ripped pair of jeans, his red Doc Martens, Merlin pulled on the first hoodie that he could find in the pile of clothes on his floor, and grabbed his parka on the way out.

When he stepped outside into the cold early December air, Merlin was glad he’d put so many layers on, and debated going back to get his gloves. It was foggy, and Merlin had to squint to make anything out. Fortunately, there was a streetlight at the end of the road, illuminating the figure leaning against it, a motorcycle standing next to it. Not wanting to keep Arthur waiting any longer, Merlin locked up the house without getting his gloves. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked towards the orange light where Arthur stood.

As he drew closer, Merlin could make out what Arthur was wearing and he had to refrain from snorting in laughter. Arthur was dressed like a stereotypical biker; a black leather jacket with studded shoulders covered a tight white t-shirt that showed off his muscled chest, he wore black jeans torn at the knees, and were covered halfway up his calf by black leather biker boots, and in one hand he held a pair of fingerless gloves. At least he wasn’t wearing sunglasses, too. If he had been, Merlin didn’t think he’d be able to pass the opportunity to make fun of him.

“You’re lucky my mum isn’t home this weekend,” Merlin said by way of greeting.

“I know she isn’t home, her car isn’t in the drive. Nice to see you, too, by the way.”

Merlin smiled, but it faded when he caught sight of the motorbike and turned into more of a grimace. It was big and red, and looked like several of its parts weren’t the originals. Merlin didn’t know anything about motorbikes, but he knew that this one scared him.

While he was side-eyeing the motorbike, Merlin could see Arthur watching him out of the corner of his eye. He looked hesitant, a half smile on his face, but his blue eyes were shining with excitement.

“So, you ready for a trip on the bike?”

“No, I’m never going to be ready to get on that thing. When did you get it? Can you even drive it?”

“Of course I can, I’ve got my license and everything. I got it this week and want to show it off, okay?” Arthur walked round to the other side of the motorcycle, swung a leg over it, did a _thing_ to it, and it roared to life, making Merlin jump. He could have sworn that an owl in a nearby tree squawked in surprise and flew away. Arthur was putting on his gloves, not looking at Merlin, when he said, “Are you coming or not?”

Merlin remembered how Arthur had sounded on the phone. Now he’d had time to think about it, Arthur had sounded sad and desperate, as if he was lost in the world and there was no one else he could turn to. Merlin wasn’t sure why he was the person that Arthur felt he could come to, but he did know that the only way he’d find out was by going with him.

Merlin took the last few steps towards the motorbike and, copying Arthur, swung his leg over to sit astride it. He grabbed Arthur’s hips, staring resolutely ahead. Arthur turned around to look at him, shocked, until his face broke into a grin that lit up his entire face.

“Never thought you’d be one to get on a motorbike so casually, Emrys,” Arthur laughed. “But you’ll want to get a better hold than that, wrap your arms round my waist, and make sure you keep your legs still.”

Merlin nodded, adjusting his hold on Arthur. Arthur stared at him, as if seeing him properly for the first time. Merlin didn’t catch his eye and carried on staring straight ahead. After a few seconds, Arthur nodded, turned back to face the front.

Arthur revved the engine once, twice, before the motorbike started to move, slowly. There was a brief moment when Merlin thought _no, no I don’t want to do this now, let me off_ but then they were picking up speed, driving down the street, Merlin’s house went flying past, and the streetlights were going by so fast that Merlin only saw a brief flash of light before it was gone and replaced by another. Arthur slowed down just enough to turn the corner, and then they were on the main road, the wind whistling in Merlin’s ears. Arthur threw his head back in glee, the wind catching his blonde hair and blowing it every way possible, and Merlin thought he could hear him laughing.

Merlin couldn’t share Arthur’s enjoyment of the ride. His heart was in his throat, the beating of it drowning out almost everything else. Hiding his head in Arthur’s shoulder blades, Merlin tightened his grip on him, hoping that the death ride would be over soon. He closed his eyes, not wanting to know when Arthur was losing control and they would end up driving into someone’s house. Or worse, tumbling off the road into a ditch somewhere, where they wouldn’t be found until the next morning, by which time it would be too late.

His mum was going to murder him.

They must have been driving for fifteen minutes when Merlin’s breathing stopped being erratic and began to calm down. His heartbeat had slowed and it no longer felt like his heart was choking him. He opened one eye first, saw that they were driving down an empty motorway, and opened the other. Merlin loosened his hold on Arthur from _death-grip tight_ to _there’ll-be-bruises_.

Arthur must have noticed this, because he glanced over his shoulder for a terrifying half a second, and shouted, “You okay?”

“Fine,” Merlin shouted back into Arthur’s ear.

“Not far now.”

Merlin hadn’t realised that Arthur had had a destination in mind and wanted to ask where they were going, but he could hardly hear Arthur over the noise of the wind and it was too difficult to hold a conversation.

Instead, he sat up straight, and tried to enjoy the feel of the wind in his face, and the sound of the motorcycle roaring down the empty motorway. It took some time for Merlin to fully relax and enjoy the sensation of flying through the air, despite knowing that he was sat barely a meter above the ground. He kept his tight hold on Arthur’s waist, not daring to loosen it even more.

Not long after Merlin had begun to enjoy himself, he felt the motorbike slowing down. Arthur directed the bike onto a slip road, slowing down even more. A roundabout and several turns onto unlit country roads later, they turned onto a dirt road into the forest at the foot of the Mountain.

It wasn’t really a mountain, but that was what everyone called it. In reality, it was a hill, with the eastern side being a steep but shallow-enough-to-walk-up slope covered in forest, and the western side had exposed rock in a sheer drop. A lot of kids came here to explore, and couples came for walks away from the city. Technically, it was private land, but the fences had been torn down a long time ago, and no one had ever bothered to replace them.

Arthur drove them some way into the forest, going much slower now and obviously following a track he had memorised. It was bumpy, and they were travelling uphill, and Merlin held on to Arthur tightly again. Merlin squinted against the darkness, trying to see if there was an actual track or if Arthur was off-roading, but the headlight from the motorbike didn’t show much ahead of them in the darkness.

Without warning, Arthur stopped.

Merlin was jolted forwards, his face hitting Arthur’s back. He unwound his arms from Arthur’s waist with difficulty after having had them locked in position for a long period of time. Merlin stayed sat on the motorbike, holding onto the seat with trembling fingers.

After the constant roar of the engine, the silence of the forest was deafening. Merlin’s ears were ringing, and he struggled to hear Arthur when he spoke,

“Merlin, you need to get off before I can.”

“Oh.” Merlin hadn’t realised how much he was shaking until he tried to move. Somehow, he managed to get his leg over the bike and he slid off, holding onto the seat for balance once he was standing.

Merlin’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and he could see that they had stopped in a small clearing. Motorbike tracks had made overlapping ridges in the ground, disturbing the soil and clearing the area of grass. Some of the smaller trees were leaning dangerously, as if they’d been driven into several times and had decided that it was easier to grow that way rather than straight upwards. Arthur was fiddling with something on his motorbike, creating the only noise in the clearing. There was a faint smell of burning rubber; Merlin wasn’t sure whether it was from Arthur’s bike, or whether the smell clung to the clearing after being used as a motorcycle track for so long.

Next to Merlin, Arthur dismounted from his bike. He glanced at Merlin, and then did a double take before rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, and there was me thinking that you’d taken the ride rather well.”

“I’m fine,” Merlin said, and he was, for the most part. He was still a little shaky, but he thought he’d be able to stand on his own now, and he didn’t feel sick, which was a bonus.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing him. He didn’t push it, though. Instead, he wheeled his motorbike to the edge of the clearing where there was a wall of trees and shrubs.

Merlin stood awkwardly, not sure what they were going to do next.

“This way,” said Arthur, walking in the opposite direction to which they’d entered the clearing when he’d finished making sure his bike was out of sight. Merlin hurried to catch up with him.

Arthur didn’t talk as he led Merlin through the forest. He walked with confidence, following a trail that Merlin couldn’t see, and Arthur must have memorised, because there was no real footpath, apart from when they seemed to be walking on a patch of ground that was hardened by footsteps and no vegetation grew there. Almost as soon as they hit these patches, however, Arthur would lead Merlin off them, further up the hill. Merlin tried to spot where they would turn, guessing from distinctive features in the forest, a fallen tree here, a boulder there, but he was wrong more often than not.

Trailing behind Arthur, Merlin could see tension in his shoulders that he hadn’t noticed while he had been clinging to him on the motorbike. Maybe it hadn’t been there while Arthur had been driving. His shoulders were held back and his head was high in what was similar to a soldier’s stance. The tension didn’t leave Arthur as they walked, and Merlin couldn’t decide whether there was a particular reason why he was tense, or whether it had become his natural state.

Arthur kept taking turns randomly, and they had been walking for some time before Merlin began to grow uneasy. The tips of his fingers were going numb, and his stomach started twisting itself into knots.

What if Arthur was leading him away from civilisation so that he could murder him? Merlin hadn’t felt any sort of weapon on him when they had been on the motorbike, but that didn’t mean anything – it wasn’t as if Merlin had done a full weapons search. He could have a gun or a knife stashed on him somewhere.

Just as Merlin was starting to panic, they reached another clearing. This time, one side of the clearing was made up of the exposed rock wall of the hill. There were four caves set into the wall, each one pitch black and ominous. Merlin stopped.

Without pausing, Arthur walked towards the one on the far right. He must have sensed that Merlin wasn’t following, because he glanced over his shoulder.

“What are you doing? We’re nearly there.”

“I’m not going in that cave.” Merlin was proud that his voice didn’t shake, because he was much more scared than he hoped he sounded.

“I’m not going to kill you or anything. I just want to show you this place.”

“Isn’t there a way that doesn’t involve going through pitch black caves?”

Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, but it involves going back down and scaling the rock face. Come _on_ , Emrys.”

He waited for Merlin to leave the shelter of the trees before turning around and heading back towards the cave. At its entrance, Arthur rooted around in his jeans pocket for a moment, pulling out a cigarette lighter. He clicked it once, and a small flame grew from the spark, producing barely enough light to see by.

“Seriously? That’s the only light you’ve got?” Merlin pulled his phone out, making his way through the various menus to turn the flash of the camera on. It didn’t create much more light than the cigarette light, but at least it lit up the floor around them so they could see where they were walking.

As they began walking again, Merlin thought he heard Arthur mutter about not everyone being able to afford fancy phones, but that couldn’t be right. Arthur’s father lived in the posh housing estate not far from where Merlin lived. He had three cars, a cleaner who came every other day, and was working his way up the hierarchy of a law firm that had started local but was now spreading to national levels. The last thing Merlin had heard was that Uther had been promoted to Deputy President. Merlin’s curiosity peaked, and he felt as if he’d missed something large happening between Arthur and his father.

The cave was still pitch black despite the two sources of light, and Merlin kept his eyes on the floor to make sure he didn’t stumble on anything. He could hear water dripping, the noise echoing around the cave, and it didn’t sound as if it became louder or quieter as they walked. Arthur had to touch Merlin’s elbow briefly a few times to prevent him from walking into the cave wall and to get him to turn.

Eventually, the darkness lessened, and Merlin and Arthur turned a corner to find themselves on ledge protruding from the rock face.

Merlin’s jaw dropped. They were staring out at the countryside, the roads winding through it lit up by dots of colour that were streetlights, indistinguishable from the stars above them only because they were orange in colour. The streetlights increased in abundance further away from them, and near where Merlin guessed the horizon was, there was an orange glow, and Merlin thought he could make out the skyscrapers of Camelot’s city centre.

For once, the stars above them weren’t obscured by clouds or light pollution. A bat flew across the entrance to the cave, followed by half a dozen more. Merlin watched them dive down to the forest below them, searching for insects to eat, and just as he thought he’d lost them in the canopy, they emerged again, and flying between the tree tops, visible only as a darker black against the darkness of the trees.

Merlin didn’t know how long he spent staring out at the view. When he finally remembered that Arthur was with him, he turned to see him standing a few paces behind him, hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face. Merlin felt his face heat, and Arthur’s smile disappeared in the time it took Merlin to blink.

Arthur coughed and looked away. Merlin went back to gazing out across the countryside, suddenly remembering to turn his phone’s flash off. He did so without looking and put it in his pocket.

It was cold this high up the hill, the chilly air reached Merlin even through his many layers of clothes. He fought the shivers that racked his body, and put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm.

The silence on the cliff edge was disturbed by a rustling sound coming from behind Merlin. He turned around to see Arthur sat cross-legged on the floor, lighting a cigarette. He took a long drag, and blew out a breath of smoke, the tension in his shoulders disappearing immediately.

Doing his best to ignore the smell of smoke, Merlin went to sit next to him. Wordlessly, Arthur offered Merlin the cigarette.

Merlin hesitated. He didn’t smoke; he’d listened when all the teachers at school told the class about the side effects of smoking, and he’d sworn to never do it. But Arthur was looking at him with one eyebrow raised, an incredulous expression on his face, and he had already gone on an unplanned roadtrip in the middle of the night on a motorcycle and wandered through the forest and cave with someone he hadn’t spoken to properly in years – apparently tonight Merlin was going to live on the wild side, or as wild as he was likely to ever go.

Merlin took the cigarette from Arthur, who grinned at him wickedly.

The cigarette felt awkward in Merlin’s hands. He raised it to his lips and took a deep breath in. He was intensely aware of the acrid smoke filling his mouth; it was the only thing he could taste and smell, and it burned his throat as he tried to breathe in. Merlin coughed. And coughed again, letting out the smoke in his mouth. He took the cigarette from his lips, waving it in Arthur’s general direction and he felt it being removed from his hand while he waited for his coughing fit to settle.

When Merlin had stopped coughing and he could see through the tears in his eyes, he turned to see Arthur shaking his head and looking bemused.

“I guess it was too much for you to ride a motorbike _and_ smoke in one night.”

“Shut up. That’s foul. I don’t know how you can sit there and finish a whole one.” Merlin could still taste the smoke, and the burn in his throat felt like it was never going to go away. He tried coughing again, but it was useless.

Arthur shrugged, and turned away, taking a drag of the cigarette.

There was silence again. Despite being full of questions – how did Arthur know this place existed? Why had he wanted to come here in the middle of the night? What had happened to him to turn him into the type of person who rode motorbikes and smoked? – Merlin didn’t voice any of them. Arthur looked to be enjoying his cigarette too much to talk, and Merlin didn’t want to say anything that could make him tense again.

Instead, Merlin lay back on the grass to stare up at the sky. Years ago, he had taken to learning the constellations, and he thought he could still remember some of them now. His eyes searched for Orion’s belt, and Sirius of _Canis Major_. Merlin found them easily enough, but after that it got harder. He couldn’t remember whether _Lyra_ was a northern or southern constellation at this time of year, or whether he was too early for _Hydra_ , or too late for _Pegasus_. It frustrated him that he’d forgotten his constellations, but it wasn’t surprising since it had been years since he’d had his telescope permanently in his back garden.

Merlin spent a few more minutes trying to look for patterns in the stars that he recognised. He gave up eventually, preferring to find his own pictures rather than get annoyed at himself.

“What are you thinking about?” Arthur asked, finally breaking the silence. Merlin turned his head towards Arthur, who had finished his cigarette and was looking intently at him.

“Not a lot. I was trying to find constellations but I can’t remember them.”

“It’s pretty cool up here, though, isn’t it?” Arthur still had his gaze fixed firmly on Merlin. It unnerved him slightly.

“Yeah, it is. I didn’t realise the view would be this good, and it’s so quiet.”

“Mmhmm.” Arthur paused. “I come up here with some of my friends and it always reminds me of you.”

Merlin frowned.

“I’ve never been here before.”

“I know, but…” Arthur glanced away, “the first time I came up here, my first thought was that you’d like it.”

Merlin let that sink in. Arthur had thought about him when he had first come to this place that was completely unrelated to him. Arthur had texted him out of the blue in the middle of the night for no real reason except to see him. Despite them growing apart and their friendship becoming nearly non-existent, it seemed that Arthur still cared about him and considered them to be friends, much more than Merlin did. Merlin’s insides squirmed at the realisation that Arthur thought about him occasionally when Merlin had written their friendship off years ago and hadn’t made any effort to change that.

Merlin wondered what had changed to make Arthur want to see him, rather than continue their unintended silence.

“What’s this all about, Arthur?” Merlin saw Arthur wince, but he pressed on. “You turn up at my house in the middle of the night, drag me on some terrifying motorcycle ride, and bring me up here for no apparent reason. What’s happened?”

Arthur sighed, determinedly not looking at Merlin and staring up at the stars instead.

“My father kicked me out last week.”

Merlin sat up abruptly.

“What?”

Arthur shrugged in an attempt to appear blasé, but he still wasn’t looking at Merlin.

“I’m surprised it hadn’t happened sooner, you know, with the smoking, and hanging round with older guys with motorbikes, and the tattoos.” Merlin raised his eyebrows. “Oh, you don’t know about the tattoos. They’re really cool, if it was warmer I’d show you. Well, that doesn’t really matter. I – um – he was supposed to be at a conference all weekend, only he came home early, and he caught me...”

Merlin was about to ask what he was caught doing, but Arthur took a deep breath and carried on,

“…with a guy.”

Merlin tried not to let his shock show.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but I’d hate it if my mum had kicked me out when I told her.”

That made Arthur turn around, his eyebrows furrowed and mouth open slightly.

“Oh, I thought everyone at school had known,” Merlin said, taking in Arthur’s expression. “I had a boyfriend for a bit, but it didn’t work out. Are you okay, though? Where are you staying? If we tell my mum I’m sure she won’t mind letting you sleep on the sofa for a few nights.”

“I’ve been couch surfing for the last week. A few of my friends have put me up but I can’t stay at anyone’s for that long. And everyone at school knew? Really?”

“Yeah. Actually, I kind of assumed that was why you stopped talking to me, because the rumours started when we were what? Twelve? Thirteen? And I thought you just didn’t want to be friends with me anymore in case I started coming onto you. I didn’t start dating that guy until a year or two later, I think.”

“Fuck, Merlin.”

There was no real emotion in Arthur’s words. Merlin stared at him, not understanding the reason for the outburst.

“That’s not why I stopped talking to you. I didn’t mean to stop talking to you. Hell, I didn’t even hear those rumours, I was too caught up in what was going on with me, because I’d suddenly started thinking of my best mate when I was wanking.”

“Woah, far too much infor-” Merlin stopped mid-sentence. Arthur had turned to face him now, the corners of his mouth turned downwards and twitching, his eyes staring right at him, apologetic. “I was your best friend.”

Little details finally clicked into place in Merlin’s mind. Arthur had stopped talking to him because he’d started being attracted to him and didn’t know how to deal with it. Had Arthur continued caring and thinking about Merlin after all these years because he was still attracted to him? Was tonight an elaborate ruse to seduce Merlin?

No, Merlin was sure that last one wasn’t true. It was obvious by Arthur’s awkwardness that he hadn’t intended this topic to come up.

 “Arthur…” Merlin whispered. Arthur jumped up quickly and started to walk away, his back to Merlin. Merlin caught his hand before he got too far away, and Arthur stilled. “Do you still…?”

Without turning round, Arthur bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”

Merlin didn’t know what to think. Yes, Arthur was attractive. The bad boy look he had going on at the moment was ridiculous, but Merlin couldn’t help thinking that it suited him. Maybe it was just that they had been friends previously, but something about Arthur made Merlin care about him so deeply that, even after all these years, he would drop everything and follow him on this reckless adventure in the middle of the night.

Arthur tried to pull away. In that split second, Merlin made his decision. He held onto Arthur’s hand tighter.

“Don’t be.” Merlin pulled himself up off the grass and walked to Arthur’s side. “I mean, yeah, you were a bit of an idiot by stopping being my friend, but there’s no need to be sorry about it. What’s done is done. Come stay at my house for a few days, my mum won’t mind. She’ll probably love that you’re there; I think she was upset when you stopped visiting. We can sort everything else out later."

Inclining his head towards Merlin, but not turning to look at him properly, Arthur said, “Everything else?”

“Sure,” Merlin grinned at him. “Finding you somewhere to stay permanently, patching things up with your dad, getting you enrolled in college, helping you stop smoking…”

“Are you sure that’s everything? Have you forgotten anything?” mocked Arthur. Merlin ignored the insult, happy that he’d apparently managed to drag Arthur a little bit out of his sadness.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Merlin laced his fingers with Arthur’s. In the darkness, Merlin saw Arthur glance at him, then down at their hands, and back to Merlin. Arthur didn’t speak for a few seconds, but when he did, it was with a raised eyebrow and half a grin.

“This might be something I want to sort out now.”

“I thought you would, you impatient ass.”

As Merlin took a step towards Arthur, he could feel the warmth radiating from him despite his own many layers of clothes. Hesitantly, Arthur placed a hand at Merlin’s waist, pulling him closer and making Merlin smile. They stood like that for seconds, or it could have been hours, with Merlin gazing down at Arthur, and Arthur’s hand gripping his coat tightly. Above them, the stars carried on twinkling; the leaves on the trees below them rustled in the wind; a colony of bats dove in and out of the tree canopy hunting for food, with one or two separating from the rest and flying past Merlin and Arthur into the cave.

Merlin closed the last few inches of distance between them, brushing his lips against Arthur’s, and losing himself in the moment.


End file.
